However, she revealed that she enjoys reading Jane Austen, Mary Renault, and F. Scott Fitzgerald, taking classes at the local university, and horseback riding. Hinton also stated in an interview with Vulture.com that she enjoys writing fan fiction. Here are some of her quotes from interviews and her best books.
Friendship
You take up for your buddies, no matter what they do. When you’re a gang, you stick up for the members. If you don’t stick up for them, stick together, make like brothers, it isn’t a gang anymore. It’s a pack. A snarling, distrustful, bickering park like the Socs in their social clubs or the street gangs in New York or the wolves in the timber.
This state of enduring affection between two or more people can be seen in most of her books. It is evident that she values friendship, and most of her stories reflect how friends help each other. Most notable is the quote above from her famous book ‘The Outsiders,‘ where they are talking about striking up for your friends no matter what.
If you have two friends in your lifetime, you’re lucky. If you have one good friend, you’re more than lucky.
This is another quote that talks about the importance of friendships and having friends in your life from her second book, ‘That Was Then, This Is Now‘. It says that you’re lucky if you have two good friends but more than lucky if you have that one great friend that ride-die in your life.
Some people go, some people stay. I’m staying.
This is another quote that established the need to have people in your life. But it’s not enough not just people but good people, those that will come and stay and help you in life. Just like the quote below says, let’s do it for our friend. We all need such people in our lives if we are to live out our potential on earth.
Let’s do it for Johnny
Another quote that established the value of relationships in her book ‘that was then, this is now‘ is the one below. Sometimes, two people that care about each other may fall out and grow apart.
You know what the crummiest feeling you can have is? To hate the person you love the best in the world.
Imagination
I have no idea why I write. The old standards are: I like to express my feelings, stretch my imagination, earn money.
The above is a quote from Susan E. Hinton in one of her interviews. Here she talks about her writing and explains that she stretches her imagination, lets it run wild and comes up with brilliant stories. Of course, she also mentions the need to earn money and express feelings as more reason why she writes and calls them old standards for wiring.
Still, we cannot discountenance the importance of imagination in our career or job. When you let your mind be creative, it’ll form new ideas, images, and concepts that were not there before. With these, you can create new products or services and become successful in selling them.
It is also good to be in a place that enriches our imagination. As S. E. Hinton mentions in the quote below, she uses Oklahoma, her town, as the basis of her writeups. Because to her, it is a good basis to let her imagination run.
The thing is, the Tulsa experience that I wrote about in ‘The Outsiders‘ is closer to the universal experience than it would be if I wrote it from L.A. or New York. It’s an everyman story.
It rains everywhere
I really couldn’t see what the Socs would have to sweat about – good grades, good cars, good girls, madras and Mustangs and Corvairs – Man, I thought, if I had worries like that, I’d consider myself lucky. I know better now.
The above quote from ‘The Outsiders‘ shows the feeling we normally have about other people, especially if things are rough with us. We feel that others have it all good, and so they have nothing to worry about. But this book and quote let us know that things are rough on every side of town, and no one has it all.
Just like Ponyboy realized that boys from socs class also have teenage problems and issues with their parents, we should realize that our fellow human beings, no matter their race, colour, religion, culture, or tribe, also have normal human problems and worries.
It’s okay. We aren’t in the same class. Just don’t forget that some of us watch the sunset too.
Just like the quote above says, we all see the same sunsets and sunrise. So we are all living in the same world and have the same fundamental human problem. With that said, let’s try to be nicer to each other.
Don’t give up
You don’t just stop living because you lose someone. I thought you knew that by now. You dont quit!
The quote above was told to Ponyboy when he was grieving the loss of his friends in ‘The outsiders,’ the famous book by S. E. Hinton. His brother was reminding him that he shouldn’t stop living and striving for more just because he lost someone. They lost their parents in a car accident, according to the story, but that didn’t stop them from living. The elder brother flurry had to give up his scholarship and get a job to be able to provide for his brothers. Yes, he didn’t go to school, but he didn’t die or give up on life. He switched gears and decided to go on and also make sure that his brothers got the best in life. That is what he was reminding Ponyboy to do.
The same can be applied in our lives; no matter the roadblock we meet on our way in life, we shouldn’t give up. It doesn’t matter what type of obstacle we meet on the road; we should never give up. Yes, it might be tough, hard and difficult, but if we don’t give up, we will win in the end.
You still have a lot of time to make yourself be what you want. There’s still lots of good in the world. Tell Dally. I don’t think he knows.
This quote, from the same book, is still talking about not giving up on becoming the best you can be in life. Here Ponyboy is reminded that there is a lot of good in the world, even though at that moment he might not see it. Yet, if he never gives up and continues pursuing excellence, at last, he will get the success he seeks.
FAQs
What did S. E. Hinton say about the tragic end of The Outsiders?
Many people were not happy when Susan E. Hinton’s famous novel ‘The Outsiders‘ ended up in a tragic way. When she was asked, she responded on Twitter. She said it was because she was a stone-cold b*tch, that’s why she wrote it like that.
Is Tex a good book?
‘Tex‘ is S. E. Hinton’s fourth novel and even though it is not nearly as famous as ‘The Outsiders‘ or ‘Rumble Fish,’ Hinton’s other novels, ‘Tex‘, is regarded by many critics to be her best artistic effort. It explores the same themes of her earlier novels which are the loss of innocence and violence.
Is The Outsiders still relevant today?
Oh yes, I believe that Susan Hinton’s teen novel, ‘The Outsiders’ is still relevant today in the 21st century. Many of the problems experienced by the characters in the novel, such as class conflicts, social acceptance, teenage anger, family issues, depression, parental neglect, bullying, school life, among others, are still relevant today.
What is the main problem in That Was Then, This Is Now?
The main problem in S. E. Hinton’s second book, ‘That Was Then, This Is Now‘ is the growing rift between Bryon and Mark. In the book, they were best of friends as they were raised together but later Bryon begins to “grow up” while Mark does not.
Who published That Was Then, This Is Now and when?
‘That Was Then, This Is Now‘ is S. E. Hinton’s second novel which she wrote after fighting writer’s block for many years. It is another young adult fiction book written for youths. The hardcover was published by Viking/Penguin while the paperback was published by Dell Publishing, both in 1971.
